One of the first stories to emerge when reviewing my initial family history research some years ago was the contrast between my Norwich born grandparents tendency to alcohol abstinence and the number of pubs managed by relatives. I made some notes at the time but never quite got round to turning them into an article. A U3A group session on ‘Pubs and Publicans’ {1} has spurred me on.
My standard ‘Cutlock test’ of new online databases has come up with the goods on the recently released ‘Norwich Freemen Records Online’. Just using Cutlock as the search term throws up one result, John Cutlock as a new freeman in May 1857. T
his is down to his apprenticeship – at the 1851 census 15-year old great great great uncle John was recorded as an apprentice to a law stationer. The search result includes ‘linked records’, as there will be a sponsor for any new freeman (later, any new freewoman too), here showing his master as John Thomas Stephens, law stationer. » Continue reading “Making the freeman cut at the stationers Cutlock test does its job”
It is not often nowadays that an article in Who Do You Think You Are? magazine sends me off immediately to follow it up. But the March issue, received yesterday, has a Focus article on ‘Masters and Mates Certificates’ {4} which indicated it was worth checking to see if the 3 x great grandfather who had the title Captain could be found. He was born in the 1790s, so was already a master mariner when certificates came in from 1850. » Continue reading “Entirely to the Water from Birth The nautical Harper Smiths”
A first cousin (twice removed) Mary Ellen Watts married Edward Arthur Feek in 1905. Edward’s parents were Elijah and Harriet (maiden name Meek). Can you guess the most frequent transcription error for the surname, perhaps from the title of this piece? Yes, Feck, although for one particularly badly written census record (1881) it comes out as Teek.
As some family trees on Ancestry have what I believe is a stray child to Elijah and Harriet (the 1911 census clearly says they had 6 children, all still alive at that time), I’ve been making sure I’ve got the Feeks pinned down. » Continue reading “No Irish swearing please”
I have finally resolved, to my own satisfaction at least, the question posed back in March last year in ‘A matching pair of Elizabeth Cutlocks, or the same person?‘.
At the time, a key baptism record which had been spotted on familysearch.org by someone else, for Harriet Cutlock born 1837/38 to Elizabeth and Thomas, could not be located on that site. But I was prompted to re-check the other day – after all the site had updated Norfolk and other parish records this year. » Continue reading “Stacking the Deck with more Cutlocks”
I seem to be continually adding individuals to an expanding family tree, with scarcely a pause for breath. Or to step back and take it all in – a valuable exercise to appreciate the results but also to spot areas needing more attention. Thanks for reminding me, Glenn.
Back in May, I went back over the Cullum line, filling in gaps mainly from 1911 census records newly accessible on Ancestry. Three extra offspring emerged for Herbert Cullum and wife Mary Ann (previously Pye):
